Good-Bye
by WriteOnForever
Summary: He really should say good-bye. Written for Chrisse week.


Disclaimer: Nope.

Good-Bye

He should say good-bye.

Amidst all the jumbled, panicked thoughts pounding in his mind, that is the most prominent one, which bombards his conscious every few seconds. Where he stands, overlooking all of camp, he can just barely see the Ares cabin, shoddy red paint job like a battle field come to life under the dim glow of the quarter moon. He closes his eyes and imagines its leader, a fearless girl with courage and confidence to spare, the one whose smile can be the scariest or most amazing thing, depending who's on the receiving end of it.

He really should say good-bye.

Of everyone at camp, she's the only one who deserves it.

Honestly, she's probably the only one who would even care.

To everyone else, he is just an unclaimed kid, someone who takes up space in the Hermes cabin. He is no one.

To her, though...he is someone. They'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood within days of each other, and, due to his insistence and her annoyance at all other campers, became friends. It was rare to see one without the other, though it was often Chris trailing behind Clarisse, and even after the boar and spear rose above her head, they still spent a majority of their time together. It was Chris who disobeyed orders and tagged along Ares cabin rather than his own, so to most, it would seem that he cared more about the friendship than she did. He, however, knew the truth: on the one day he had stuck firmly with his schedule, Clarisse found him at the campfire and asked, in a voice so small he couldn't believe it came from her, where he had been. Just because she couldn't show it didn't mean she didn't care.

He really, really should say good-bye.

She's his best friend.

She's his girlfriend.

Okay, so maybe _girlfriend_ is a little too strong of a word, but it's hard to describe what's between them. They sneak off together after lights out, talk until there are no more words left to say. And as of last week, they've been kissing. It's still awkward as Hades, and Chris is positive he's doing _something _wrong, but she doesn't complain. In fact, all she does is smile, a special kind of smile that no one else gets to see.

He needs to say good-bye.

He needs to explain.

Because even though she's his best friend, his not-quite-girlfriend, he can't stay. His godly parent has ignored him for three years, and he's past the point of wondering what he can possibly do to improve himself. Now, he's just angry. He wants revenge. And Luke, who guided him like an older brother, is providing him that perfect opportunity.

There's another reason he's joining Kronos's army, though, one he has told no one else.

He's doing it for Clarisse.

Because overthrowing Olympus means overthrowing Ares.

If there's any god he hates more than his own parent, it's the god of war.

Chris stumbled across this realization one night when he was meeting Clarisse in the woods. She was at their normal spot, but this time, she was not alone. Her father was with her. Towering over the twelve-year-old, fist raised, voice sneering and degrading and just dripping with contempt. And then, without warning, without hesitance, he hit her, the blow sending her sprawling across the ground. He didn't even wait for her to stand before he disappeared.

And when Chris, out of his stupor, ran to her side, she shoved him away and stammered something about showing weakness during Capture the Flag, deserving this for her failure, being lucky this was the extent of her punishment.

Which meant that he had done this before.

And despite being begged to forget what he had seen, he couldn't forget the pain and humiliation that marred her face or her swollen-shut black eye that took a month to fully heal.

_I'm doing this for you_, he thinks. _So he can never hit you again_.

And yet...

"Ready?" A hand settles on his shoulder. Luke flashes him a smile.

"Yeah. Yeah. But, um, I was just wondering...you think I could say good-bye to someone? Just really fast?"

The older boy shakes his head. "Too dangerous. Unless you think they'll join us."

No way. Not her.

"No," he murmurs softly. "They wouldn't."

"Alright then. Let's go." He playfully ruffles his hair. "We have a world to rebuild."

They walk off, side by side. Stealing one last glance backwards, he catches a glimpse of Cabin Five. For a fleeting second, he considers turning back, but he knows that he can't. Instead, he whispers, "Good-bye," hoping that the wind will carry it to her.

(They're just past the border when Clarisse wakes up in a cold sweat and an empty feeling in her stomach.)


End file.
